Rat guard



July 13, 1965 s. R. THORNTON RAT GUARD Filed Oct. 16, 1964 5 /6 INVENTORSR. 7HoR/v 7'0N United States Patent 3,194,203 RAT GUARD Stuart B.Thornton, 370%) 25th St, San Francisco, Calif. Filed Get. 16, 1964, Ser.No. 404,261 4 Claims. (Cl. 114-421) This invention relates to a ratguard for application to a hawser to prevent rodents, such as rats, frommoving along the hawser from a pier or dock into a ship.

More particularly, it is an aim of the present invention to provide arat guard or" extremely simple construction which may be quickly appliedto or removed from a hawser.

A further object of the invention is to provide a rat guard which willremain properly in place on a hawser at all times with its planesubstantially perpendicular to the hawser, and which will not beaffected by wind or tide so as to cause the guard to assume a cantedposition relative to the hawser so that a rat might successfully passthe guard and reach the ship along the hawser.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will hereinafterbecome more fully apparent from the following description of the drawingillustrating a presently preferred embodiment thereof, and wherein:

FIGURE 1 is an elevational view of the rat guard, shown in an appliedposition;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantially along theline 2-2 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a sectional View taken substantially along the line 33 ofFIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view taken substantially along the line 44 ofFIGURE 2, and FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary sectional view takensubstantially along the line 5-5 of FIGURE 2.

Referring more specifically to the drawing, the rat guard in itsentirety and comprising the invention is designated generally 7 and isshown in FIGURE 1 applied to a hawser 3 leading from a part of a ship 9to a pile 10 of a pier or deck 11.

The rat guard 7 is composed primarily of a disc 12 formed of a resilientmetal having a central opening 13, and a slit 14 which extends radiallyfrom part of the openis then forced inwardly through the slit 14 betweenthe portion 17 and the portions 15 and 16 until the hawser.

enters the opening 13, at which time portions 15 and 16 will spring backtoward the plane of the portion 17 and the remainder of the disc 12. Thedisc 12 is then positioned perpendicular to the axis or" the hawser 8with the side 19 thereof facing toward the ship 9, so that the rod 18will extend from the disc 12 toward the ship 9 and will be disposedsubstantially parallel to the hawser 8, as seen in FIGURES 1, 2 and 3. i

The rat guard is moved a desired distance along the hawser 8 so that thedisc 12 will be disposed between the pier 11 and the ship 9. One end ofa lanyard 22 is sein 13 through a part of the periphery of the disc 12.A

portion 15 of the disc 12, which is disposed on one side of the slit 14,has an extension or flap 16 which overlies the slit 14 and a portion 17of the disc 12, which is located on the other side of said slit.

A rod 18 is fixed to and projects from a side or face 19 of the disc 12,adjacent the central opening 13 and spaced from the inner end of theslit 14. The other end of the rod 18 terminates in an eye 24). The disc12 is provided with an opening 21 which is located adjacent a portion ofthe periphery thereof and remote from the slit 14 and rod 1%.

The opening 13 is or" a size suiiicient to accommodate a hawser ofmaximum size. To apply the rat guard 7 to the hawser 8 the rod 18 ispositioned substantially perpendicular to the hawser 8 so that the planeof the disc 12 will be disposed substantially parallel to the hawser.The flap or extension 16 is then sprung away from the disc portion 17 sothat said parts can be inserted over the hawser and so a part of thehawser will extend through the slit 14 which has been spread by the discportion 15 being sprung away from the disc portion 17. The hawser curedto the eye 20 and the other end, not shown, is made fast to a part ofthe ship so that the lanyard will be taut.

Thus, the lanyard 22 will cooperate with the rod 18 to maintain the disc12 substantially perpendicular to the hawser 8, in addition topreventing the guard 7 from sliding down the hawser toward the dock 11.Thus, the disc 12 will be prevented from becoming canted relative to thehawser 8, which might permit a rat or other rodent to get past the ratguard in moving along the hawser toward the ship. A second lanyard 23may be attached at one end to the disc 12 through its opening 21, withthe other end, not shown, made fast to the ship 9, to further assist inholding the rat guard 7 in its position in FIGURE 1.

It will also be apparent that the parts 15 and 16 may be sprung awayfrom the part 17 for readily disengaging the rat guard 7 from the hawser8 by passing the hawser through the slit 14 from the opening 13 to theperiphery of the disc 12. j

Various modifications and changes are contemplated and may obviously beresorted to without departing from the function or scope of theinvention, as hereinafter defined by the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A rat guard comprising a substantially circular disc of spring metalhaving a substantially central opening adapted to receive a hawser and aslit extending substantially radially from a part of said openingthrough a part of the periphery of the disc, a portion of the discdisposed along one side of the slit having an extension forming a flapoverlying said slit and a portion of the disc disposed along the otherside of the slit from said opening to the periphery of the disc, andsaid first mentioned portion and flap being sprung away from said lastmentioned portion for spreading the slit to enable the hawser to bepositioned in engagement with said opening or out of engagement with thedisc.

2. A rat guard as in claim 1, and a rod fixed to and projecting from oneside of the disc, adjacent said opening, and disposed substantiallyperpendicular to the plane of the disc, said rod being adapted to extendfrom the disc substantially parallel to the hawser toward a ship fromwhich the hawser extends and having an eye at an end thereof disposedremote from the disc to which an end of a taut lanyard leading from theship is adapted to be fastened for holding the rat guard from slidingmovement on the hawser away from the ship and to prevent said disc fromassuming a canted position relative to the hawser.

3. A rat guard as in claim 1, and a rigid lanyard anchoring member fixedto and projecting from a side of the disc adjacent said opening and towhich a taut lanyard is adapted to be attached for holding the rat guardPatented July 13, 1965 against sliding movement on the hawser away fromsaid lanyard and to prevent tilting movement of the rat guard relativeto the hawser.

4. A rat guard comprising a substantially circular disc of spring metalhaving a central opening adapted to receive a hawser, said discincluding overlapping portions extending from the opening to a portionof the periphery of the disc and defining a slit extending between theopening and said peripheral portion through which the hawser is movedinto engagement with the opening or out of engagement with the disc whensaid overlapping portions are sprung apart, and said overlappingportions be- 4i ing normally spring biased toward one another to closesaid slit.

References Iited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,160,634 11/15Maynard 114221 2,421,151 5/47 Johnstone et al 114221 2,950,700 8/60McBride 114-221 MILTON BUCHLER, Primary Examiner.

m FERGUS s. MIDDLETON, Examiner.

1. A RAT GUARD COMPRISING A SUBSTANTIALLY CIRCULAR DISC OF SPRING METALHAVING A SUBSTANTIALLY CENTRAL OPENING ADAPTED TO RECEIVE A HAWSER AND ASLIT EXTENDING SUBSTANTIALLY RADIALLY FROM A PART OF SAID OPENINGTHROUGH A PART OF THE PERIPHERY OF THE DISC, A PORTION OF THE DISCDISPOSED ALONG ONE SIDE OF THE SLIT HAVING AN EXTENSION FORMING A FLAPOVERLYING SAID SLIT AND A PORTION OF THE DISC DISPOSED ALONG THE OTHERSIDE OF THE SLIT FROM SAID OPENING TO THE PERIPHERY OF THE DISC, ANDSAID FIRST MENTIONED PORTION AND FLAP BEING SPRUNG AWAY FROM SAID LASTMENTIONED PORTION FOR SPREADING THE SLIT TO ENABLE THE HAWSER TO BEPOSITIONED IN ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID OPENING OR OUT OF ENGAGEMENT WITH THEDISC.